Five Times Maria Hill Exercised Her Judgment
by Alpha Flyer
Summary: Maria Hill's job involves a lot of decisions, about some very odd people. Judgment matters.


Author's Note: Six 100-word drabbles, written for **be_compromised'**s Hallowe'en trick-or-treat meme on LiveJournal, for six of my trick-or-treaters (**Sneakyhufflepuff, lar_laughs, TheSugarfaerie, geckoholic, desertport, **and** enigma731. **There's another one of these kicking around somewhere, which I will post at a later date.

The last drabble links to an incident in my story "In the Service".

* * *

><p><strong>Five Times Maria Hill Exercises Her Judgment <strong>

**(And One Time She Picks Up The Pieces)**

**by**

**Alpha Flyer**

* * *

><p><strong><em>One<em>**

Clint Barton officially joins S.H.I.E.L.D. on August 30, 1999. Fittingly, it's a Monday.

By Monday afternoon, Maria has received three complaints.

_Barton's penchant for sarcasm borders on insubordination, _says the note from Personnel – his first stop of the day. (Getting off on the right foot, for Barton, apparently means sticking it in his mouth.)

_Did S.H.I.E.L.D. really just hire someone without a bank account? _ Finance frets.

_Barton makes the other recruits feel inferior_, bleats Physical Training. _He never misses and his combat moves are unorthodox and unsettling. _

That last one, Maria takes to Fury.

…..

**_Two_**

When rumours circulate that May is '_seeing a fellow agent outside required parameters'_ (a euphemism for violating S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fraternization rules), Maria calls her in.

"Barton?" she asks, eyebrow raised. "Seriously? His last relationship was a pile-up on the New Jersey turnpike."

May shrugs.

"Have you noticed his arms?"

Maria has, but that's hardly the point.

"What about his ass? Don't tell me you've never …"

"_No_," Maria says firmly, but May senses an opening and plays her trump card.

"The man is a _trained acrobat_."

Maria sighs.

"Fine. I'll put you two down for three extra sparring sessions a week."

…..

**_Three_**

Barton brings in the Black Widow, and Maria is appalled. The most ruthless product of a brutal system, Romanoff is a weapon to be destroyed, not brought home for a playdate.

"She's not what everybody thinks," Barton insists, but he doesn't explain – as if it should be obvious, and Maria is just being obtuse.

But then she sees Romanoff in her holding cell, staring at a book she's not actually reading, looking lost. And right there, Maria understands what Barton means.

As she heads out for her morning Starbucks, it occurs to her that Romanoff could probably use a latte.

…..

**_Four_**

The stakes in the pool are at an all-time high after Budapest. Rumour is, when Coulson had come for Delta Team, their … _position_ … was sufficiently obvious to settle the issue, once and for all.

Problem is, Coulson isn't talking.

Maria silences the chattering lunchroom with an icy glare. Some situations, you need to tackle head on.

"Now hear this. Barton was injured. Romanoff stitched him up. He took his shirt off for that. That is all."

Maria takes her sandwich and stalks out, heading straight for Victoria Hand's office.

"Barton and Romanoff no longer get an extraction plan."

...

**_Five_**

Word that Barton has been compromised races through the helicarrier like a wildfire. His picture is on every monitor - thanks to Sitwell.

As if people don't know what Hawkeye looks like.

_Or what he is capable of. (_Does the Council?)

And Fury? First, he prioritized his Phase II toys. Now, he is assembling his misfit gang. The world needs an army - not a mercurial billionaire, the perp's big brother, and a couple of science experiments.

The world also needs someone who remembers the rules – and how S.H.I.E.L.D. is _supposed_ to deal with crises.

Maria picks up the phone.

...

**_Plus One_**

"_Was that not protocol_?"

Her own words to Fury ring hollow, as Maria recalls the eagerness with which the Council welcomed her report of Barton's alleged betrayal. She compares that memory to the look in Barton's eyes in Medical: self-hatred, anger, shame, pain.

The coffee room is empty when she stops for a late-night hit of caffeine. And there it is, smashed and broken: Hawkeye's '_Archers Do It With A Recurve'_ mug. No doubt the work of someone else who'd been quick to judge.

Slowly, she bends.

Superglue will not make it new. But maybe it can hold coffee again.


End file.
